Such combination of shafts is often used in industrial work vehicles to synchronize two movements. A first movement is directly related to the first shaft and a second movement is directly related to the second shaft. Thereby, one of the two shafts is typically driven, and the other of the two shafts is connected to one of the shafts so that rotation of one shaft can be transmitted to the other shaft. By providing a coupling between these shafts, overload protection mechanisms as well as free-wheel mechanisms can be implemented between the shafts to ensure correct operation and to protect the working elements of the vehicle.
A drawback of such set-up is that any static or dynamic misalignment between the first shaft and the second shaft induces a significant wear to the coupling and to the shafts. Particularly, when high torques are transmitted from the first shaft to the second shaft or vice versa, as is conventional in industrial work vehicles, the wear can significantly limit the lifetime of the coupling. Even when the coupling is chosen to be able to cope with such misalignments, still these misalignments typically induces torque forces to the shaft in radial directions. Spline connections, which are typically used to connect the shafts to the coupling, cannot resist such radial torques and tend to wear off. When the teeth of the spline connection are worn off, the complete shaft must be replaced, which is cumbersome, time consuming and expensive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution to one or multiple of the above mentioned drawbacks.